The Art of Making Friends
by Shawn45
Summary: Ruby has a severe case of social anxiety, and is forced against her will to attend Beacon Academy. With no choice but to make the best of a horrible situation, she will do her best to finally make some friends, and try to gain any scrap of self-confidence she can get.


I wrote this after reading a manga called Hitoribocchi no 00 Seikatsu. I liked the manga so much that I read through it twice in the same day. I don't know why, but something about the story really resonated with me, so I decided to basically rewrite Ruby's personality with Hitori's, and wanted to see where I could take it. I actually wrote this story quite a while ago, and decided to upload it now. While I MAY continue this at a later date, for now this is all there is. It ends on a fairly conclusive note, but if I wanted, I could certainly continue it.

XxXxXxX

Ruby Rose didn't like talking to people.

Actually, that's an understatement. The amount of people Ruby could honestly say she had a close relationship with in her life could be counted on one hand. The amount of conversations she initiated could be counted on two – perhaps a bit more if she had a little longer to think, but it already took a while to think of even ten conversations she started! It wasn't that she wanted to be like this though, it's just that she was shy.

Very shy.

 _Extremely_ shy.

She shook whenever she so much as looked at an unfamiliar person, her legs buckled when people noticed she was in the same room as them, and as a result of the trauma she went through by being close to others, she would often vomit. It was just a natural reaction! Surely most people vomited when they felt a large amount of pressure and anxiety, right? Still, this has led to a pretty lonely life, not knowing many people.

Ruby could count the amount of friends she has ever had with no hands, because she never _had_ any friends. She had often read about people having friends, and it sounded like a wonderful experience! She dearly wanted to be close to someone, to have someone she could go spend the night with, or go to the movies, or even just hang out playing games. However, the problem with friends was that they were _people_ , and she didn't like talking to people!

Well, if she didn't count people, then she had a few friends growing up. She'd grown pretty fond of her dear Crescent Rose, but Yang insisted that it didn't count. Yang, her dad, and uncle Qrow she _wanted_ to consider friends, but again, Yang claimed that since they were family, they didn't count either. So that left no one to be her friend, which was honestly pretty upsetting – she'd occasionally stay up thinking about what it would be like to have people to be with.

What brought on this extreme anxiety?

Well, there was that incident when she was about seven years old and… No – she didn't want to think about that. After that though, what little social skills she did have rotted away over time. Maybe she'd never have friends? Maybe her uncle Qrow could just keep teaching her lessons privately, and she could live at home with her dad for the rest of her life? Was that really so bad?

Well… Those plans fell apart when she accidentally did _too_ well when she was sparring with uncle Qrow one time. Someone had come in to watch them, and she didn't even detect the man until he coughed, and Ruby turned white as a sheet as she turned to the unknown person. Her scythe was dropped, and she ran to hide behind her uncle as he greeted the strange man – Ozpin – who her uncle seemed to be close with. A little discussion later, and Ozpin was talking about getting her to attend Beacon!

Wasn't that a school? She remembered thinking that her uncle wouldn't put her up to it, after all, she hadn't attended school since _that_ happened to her, and she liked it that way. However, Qrow seemed to be pretty happy about it, and when Ozpin and Qrow talked to her family, her sister and father both seemed to be on board with it too. She begged them to change things, but unfortunately for her, they didn't back down, and despite her protest, she was practically forced out the door.

And now, a few weeks later, here she was, sitting on the airship, curled in on herself in the corner, shaking as she noticed people all over the place. They had been paying attention to her earlier, she heard them whispering, but thankfully that stopped, and they were looking elsewhere. She wanted to go hide in the bathroom, but unfortunately someone was in there, so she stayed very close to her sister instead, her hands gripped the blonde tightly as she sat in the corner.

"Chill out Ruby," Yang glanced down at the gloomy girl, whose hood covered her eyes, "Nothing's going to happen!"

Ruby nodded her head, "I – I'm fine."

"Uh huh." Yang rolled her eyes, "And I'm the queen of Vale."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head, "Really?"

Yang let out a soft sigh, "No, not really."

"Oh." Ruby went silent again.

"So…" Yang tried to fill the void with anything, "Looking forward to making friends?"

"Eh?" Ruby blinked a few times, and she looked up at her sister, "Make friends?"

"Well, that's what you _do_ at a school right? Plus there's a good chance we won't be on the same team, so this would be a perfect chance for you to make friends!"

Ruby pulled out a notebook from without her cloak, and looked through it, "T – That's step four," Ruby replied.

"Huh?" Yang looked genuinely confused now, and she leaned forward to get a good look at the notebook, "Step four of what?"

"How to survive at Beacon," Ruby replied, "The first step already failed," She admitted sadly.

"And that was?"

"Hoping that the school would disappear," Ruby sighed, her shoulder slumping, "That didn't happen."

"Nope." Yang replied, a smile crossing her face, "You didn't think that was really going to happen, did you?"

"Well…" Ruby looked aside, biting her bottom lip in thought, and she finally let out a small, "maybe?"

"So what's step two?" Yang sat down on the floor beside Ruby, and Ruby in response scooted closer to her sister, looking only slightly more confident with her nearby. She was still frightened, but with someone she liked near her, she could ignore those around her a little easier.

"Put this note on the door," Ruby flipped to the back of her notebook, and Yang let out another laugh as she read the note, "If I put this on the classroom door, then people would go back home, right?"

"Class canceled?" Yang shook her head, "You know this is a dorm school, right? Even if class was canceled for one day, it's not like we're going to go back home."

Ruby dejectedly crumpled up the note, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, "I thought it was a good idea…"

"Anyway, what's the third?" Yang quickly asked, gently patting her sister on the back.

"Hope that I don't pass the entry exam," Ruby flipped to the third page on her notebook, "So this is my only chance I guess."

"You can't intentionally fail!" Yang replied harshly, causing her sister to quickly shrink away from her, "Uh, sorry," She replied sheepishly, leaning back away from Ruby, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Uncle Qrow said the same thing," Ruby muttered sadly, "He says that if I make myself fail, he'll be really upset and he won't train me anymore," She bit her bottom lip again, and reached up to wipe away some tears, "I don't know what to do…"

"How about going with step four?" Yang asked.

"That's the hardest one," Ruby replied, "I don't know if I can do that."

Yang let out a sigh, and reach over to hug her sister, "Come on, do it for me?" Ruby eagerly hugged her sister back.

"I'll try." She muttered.

"Great!" Yang jumped to her feet just as the airship got to its destination, "Then let's get this show started!"

"What?" Ruby looked around at the crowd of people eagerly getting off the ship, "Can't we wait until everyone leaves first?" She asked.

"If you want to make friends, then you're going to have to start taking risks!" Yang exclaimed, holding out her hand to her younger sister, "You coming?"

"Uh…" Ruby glanced fearfully around her, and swallowed. Finally she shakily reached out and took her sisters hand, and was helped to her feet, "L – Let's g – go…"

"Try not to sound _too_ thrilled," Yang muttered dryly, "We'll walk slow, will that make you feel better?"

Ruby nodded, and Yang – true to her word – walked slowly, her eyes glued on Ruby as she led the two of them off of the airship. Ruby put her hood up, and pressed her body against Yang, trying to contain her fear as they got off of the airship and onto the ground. "W – We did it," Ruby sighed.

Then someone bumped into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The student turned around, and blinked in surprise, "Huh?"

Ruby used her speed semblance to get to the trash can before her anxiety got the better of her and she threw up on the ground. Instead, she was vomiting in the trash can. Having someone physically _touch_ her was super scary! She fortunately managed to keep herself on her feet, and she glanced back at Yang, "S – Sorry."

"Are you going to -" Whatever Yang was going to say stopped when a blonde haired boy barged between the two of them and went to the trash can to throw up, much like Ruby. Again, Ruby jumped back, but she didn't use her semblance this time, instead she just latched onto Yang yet again, hiding behind her as she stared wide eyed at the vomiting boy.

"Uhhhh…." The boy slumped to the ground next to the trash can, "I feel awful…"

"Hey vomit boy," Yang growled, "Watch where you're going!"

"Eh?" He looked up, "Ah… Um, sorry."

Yang shook her head and led Ruby away from the trash can, "Anyway, Ruby, I want you to promise me that you'll try your hardest to make friends, alright?"

She didn't know if she could do it, but Ruby nodded anyway, "I – I'll try." Her notebook – still surprisingly clasped in her hands – flew open as she pored through it, "So we'll go with step four, but…" She paused, "How do I make friends?"

"Just do what comes naturally to you," Yang advised, and then she paused, "Well… Do what I do!"

"What you do?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah! You know… Talk to them and stuff, just use the things I wrote in there!" She pointed to the notebook Ruby was holding.

"Huh," Ruby nodded, "I see."

"Anyway," Yang pat her sister on the back, "Do your best!"

"What?" Ruby turned around, and noticed that Yang was gone, "Eh? Yang!" She looked all around her, "Yang?!"

Her sister was gone, leaving her behind to fend for herself. Her confidence shattered immediately without her sister's presence nearby, and she stood still, clutching her notebook to her chest. If she stood still, maybe she'd blend into her environment and everyone would ignore her?

She hoped that it would work, and she closed her eyes.

XxXxXxX

Jaune let out a soft groan as he finally stood up. "Never… Never doing that again," he decided. He stumbled away from the trash can, ignoring the few bouts of laughter around him, and he glanced around. "Where do I go?" He wondered aloud, looking to the multiple large structure in the distance.

Okay, step one of his plan was a complete success! Somehow the staff didn't notice his forged transcripts, and he was allowed into one of the most prestigious schools in the world. Now he could show off his true nature, fighting alongside the best of the best, slaughtering countless amount of those big, terrifying, horrible Grimm, and then… Huh, why did he feel sick again all of the sudden? He perished the thought before nausea could claim him again, and he looked around.

"Oh, hey," He muttered, noticing the girl wearing red and black in the middle of the path. For some reason she was just standing completely still, her hood up, and she was holding a book to her chest. What was that about? He walked closer to get a better look, and noticed that in addition to all of that, her eyes were closed.

"What a freak," A rather large person callously stated as he walked pass the frozen girl.

He wanted to tell him off! He really did! However, he just lost his breakfast to the trash, and picking a fight with someone significantly bigger than him just wouldn't do when he wasn't completely full on energy. So he just stepped to the side when the boy passed. It had nothing to do with being _afraid_ of him or anything, just that he wasn't feeling very good still. That's all.

Still, that red girl was just standing there, even after that remark, so Jaune walked up to her and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Huh?" The girl's eyes opened immediately, "Uh, I… Um…" She backed up a step, "fine." She whispered, so quietly that he could barely hear her.

"You don't really seem to be fine," He admitted as he watched her shaking like a leaf.

Ruby again looked shocked, "You knew?!" She bit her bottom lip, "I - I gotta go!" She dashed away, or at least, maybe she meant to do so, but the moment she turned around, she tripped on her own feet, and collapsed to the ground, "Ah!" She gasped, curling in on herself.

"Sheesh, you're pretty clumsy aren't you?" Jaune replied, kneeling down at her side. He reached for her arm to help pull her up, "Come on, let's get you back up."

He was kind of unnerved by just how creepy it was that she just stared at him in what seemed like awe as he helped her up. As she got to her feet, she just continued to stare. He averted his eyes, hoping she'd get the message, but she just kept looking. Finally, when he decided to say _something_ to get her to look away, she asked, "You… Um… Uh… Friend?"

"Eh?" He shook his head, "What did you say?"

She looked down, "Um…bemyfriendplease."

"You spoke too fast that time."

She looked through her notebook, stopping at a certain page, "Would you like to be my friend?" She read straight from the notebook, and then she looked up at him, her eyes shining hopefully.

"Um…" he rubbed the back of his head, averting his eyes yet again from the strange girl, "We barely know each other…"

"But… But…" Tears started welling up in the girl's eyes, "Y – you… helped… and…" She made a few bizarre motions, which he assumed were supposed to show him helping her up.

"Well, yeah, but…" He wanted to turn her down and run for it, but seeing her start to tear up was causing him to feel guilty, "Yeah, I'm sorry, we can be friends." He cursed his empathy as he tried to calm her down.

She dropped her notebook as she clapped her hands together, "Really?!" She exclaimed, the first notably clear thing she'd said all day.

"Yeah, sure." He sighed, "Why not?"

So his first friend was kind of odd… Um, that didn't particularly do it justice. So his first friend was _very_ weird, but in a way, Jaune could kind of see himself in the girl. At one point he thought he may have been awkward around people, but after seeing this girl, well, he was probably pretty normal after all! All of those kids that made fun of him back at school were just being bullies, just as he suspected all along!

Though it was getting kind of awkward just standing there. "Um…" He looked around, "My name's Jaune, nice to meet you." He held out his hand expectantly.

Ruby dashed down to the ground to pick up her notebook, and turned to the very first page, "My name is Ruby Rose, I am X years old." She paused, "Oh, um…" She timidly looked up from her notebook, "I – I'm f – fifteen."

"Really?" His eyes widened, "Fifteen and you're attending Beacon already?" She just nodded in response. "That's amazing!" He laughed, "My first friend here is a prodigy?" _and_ a very strange person, but he wouldn't say that aloud.

She turned to the second page of her book, "If someone compliments you, be sure to thank them." She read aloud. Again she looked up, and she bit her bottom lip, "Um…." Whatever she was about to say was stopped when she suddenly fell to the ground yet again.

"What?!" Jaune yelped in surprise, "What's wrong?"

"Um… Uh…" She rubbed her calves, "c – cramps."

"Cramps?" He asked, "Really?" She nodded, and soon she was helped back to her feet, "You really don't like talking to people, do you?"

"N – No." She admitted, picking up her notebook where it fell, "B – But… I want to try to g – get b – better at it."

"Well, at least you're facing your problem head on, that's good." He saw her reading the notebook again, "What's in that notebook anyway, is it just a script for you to read or something?"

She again flipped to the first page and read the note aloud for Jaune's benefit, "Ruby, use this to get started on making friends, and good luck." She looked up at him expectantly.

"So uh, your sister gave it to you to help out?"

"Y – Yes." Ruby nodded, "I – I…" She paused, and looked through the notebook, "Social anxiety," She read straight from the book.

 _That_ was putting it very mildly, Jaune thought to himself, "Ah, so I guess coming to this school will help with that."

Another affirmative nod, "Yes."

"Wait a minute… School! The orientation is going to be soon!" He exclaimed, suddenly remembering his earlier thoughts, "We need to figure out where to go!"

She looked through her notebook, and a frown marred her face, "Um…" Another page, and she read, "I don't have a response to that, can we skip it?"

"What?" He looked away from the imposing building, and back to her, "We can't skip it! We _have_ to go there!" He shook his head as she looked through the notebook some more, "Never mind that! Come on, we need to hurry!"

He grabbed her hand, and could feel her shaking even as he pulled her along. He briefly thought about stopping due to that, but he looked back to see her keeping up with him, though what made him keeping going was the expression on her face. Despite the obvious fear, he could see a small smile, and her eyes were sparkling with excitement. Whether it was over coming to this school, or being his friend, he didn't know, but it was flattering either way.

Though soon he felt even more hopelessly lost than before. He growled as he looked around the campus, and he led Ruby over to a bench along the path and sat down. "You'd think the biggest building here would be it, but no, it's not." He let out a sigh, "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"I don't have a response –." Ruby started to recite as she sat beside him.

"Yeah, ok." He cut her off before she could finish. He leaned back, and let out a sigh, "I guess a teacher will _eventually_ have to find us, and then they can get us going in the right direction. You'd think a place this big would have – I dunno – a SIGN or something to point us where to go!" He complained – Ruby of course wasn't saying anything, but he didn't really expect her to. Instead, she just looked at him, occasionally nodding her head.

"Are you two lost?"

"Ah!" Ruby crashed into Jaune's side, staring at wide eyes at the person who spoke up, "J – Jaune!" She mumbled, shaking as she held him tightly.

"Ruby!" He exclaimed, "Stop that!" He leaned away as the girl seemed to try her best to burrow into his armor, but was having very little success. As he tried to fend off the little girl to his side, he looked towards the girl standing before them. The first word he could think of to describe her would be 'black'. She wore almost completely black clothing, had a black headband, black hair… "So do you like black?" He asked.

"Uh," She tilted her head at the question, "I guess so."

Ruby gasped, leaning away from Jaune, she glanced down to her trusty notebook, "Would you like to be my friend?"

"I don't really know you that well," the girl replied, "I don't even know your name."

Jaune watched Ruby take that information in, and the girl frantically flipped back to the first page of her worn notebook, "My name is Ruby Rose, I am X years old." She paused, and her eyes widened, "I – I'm… f – fifteen."

"Is this going to happen with everyone?" Jaune wondered aloud.

There was a long period of silence as Blake just stared at Ruby, undoubtedly, Jaune figured, trying to figure out if this was a joke or not. Finally, she shook her head, and replied, "My name's Blake. I'm seventeen."

Ruby grinned happily at that response, and though she was still shaking, she seemed to be significantly less afraid of Blake now, though she still kept a death grip on Jaune's arm. "N – Nice t – t – to…" She gripped her notebook tightly, and finally broke down and looked through the pages, "Nice to meet you." She read out.

Blake glanced over to Jaune, "Is this," She pointed to Ruby, "For real?"

While Ruby looked confused by the question, Jaune nodded, "Apparently she has social anxiety, a _really_ bad case of it."

"No kidding," Blake muttered, "Why's she even attending here? I feel like it would be better if she saw a psychiatrist or something."

"Dunno," Jaune replied, "I just met her ten minutes ago."

"Y – You two m – must…." She gulped as they looked at her, "b – be close." She finished, "You t – talk s – so much."

"Eh?" Blake shook her head, "No, I just met him too. I don't even know his name."

"Jaune," He introduced himself, "And yeah, we've just met each other." He explained to the younger girl.

"Oh," Ruby muttered, "B – But I t – thought t – talking m – m – meant you w – were friends?"

"No." Blake shook her head, "People talk all the time and aren't friends."

"But…" Tears started to pour down Ruby's eyes as if they were faucets that just turned on, "I – I th – thought we were f – friends!"

"Of course we are!" Jaune hurriedly explained, "Right Blake?" He turned to the girl, his eyes begging her to go along with it.

"Uh, yeah." Blake nodded hesitantly, "Of course. We're all friends."

"R – Really?" Ruby asked.

"Yes," Jaune quickly answered, patting her on the back, "So don't feel so down."

Though she still had tears streaming down her face, Ruby again dropped her notebook to clap her hands together as she smiled at her two friends, "T – Thank you!"

When Ruby wasn't acting strange, Jaune could admit that she was a cute girl, and seeing her smile so happily made him grin right back at her. It was such a shame then that she seemed to be so reclusive and nervous – actually… "You didn't use your notebook just now," He pointed out, "So you don't need it all the time?"

"Ah!" She blinked in surprise, "I – I – I guess…" She immediately shut her mouth, and leaned forward and she vomited on the ground.

"I guess it's only when she's feeling emotional?" Blake guessed, backing up a little as Ruby heaved, and Jaune patted her on the back. Blake grabbed Ruby's notebook, dusting it clean, and held onto it as the girl caught her breath.

"Weird." Jaune helpfully commented.

Ruby shook as she accepted her notebook back, though she did at least offer a shaky smile. She went through a few pages, "Thank you, friend's name."

"Blake." She reminded the girl.

"U – Uh…" Ruby gulped, "B – B – B- Bl – Blake."

They heard a loud bell suddenly ring through the campus, and they all looked up towards the central clock tower – well, Jaune and Blake did, Ruby jumped up and decided to hide under the bench, the loud noise frightening her quite a bit.

"Oh crap!" Jaune got to his feet, "The opening ceremony!"

"Right," Blake nodded, and she got to the ground and helped Jaune get Ruby out from under the bench, making sure to avoid the vomit on the ground. The girl clutched her notebook tightly to her chest, but she did spare an arm to grip on Jaune's sleeve. "I know where it is, follow me!"

The three of them only _just_ managed to make it in time, squeezing in at the very back of the massive hall filled to the brim with students. Though Jaune tried to go further in, it felt like a weight was suddenly tied to his arm, and he nearly fell back due to the unexpected feeling. Glancing back, her saw Ruby staring with wide eyes at the huge gathering of students, and her feet were shaking violently. "Ruby, it'll be fine."

She shook her head, "M – Maybe w – we c – c – can get a s – summary?" She whispered, "I – I don't wanna go."

"We're already here though," Jaune whispered back to her as the staff started speaking, "We can stay back here, but we need to hear what they're saying, I'm sure it's important!"

"Rubes!" Yang seemed to materialize out of the crowd around them, causing Ruby to jump at least a solid foot in the air, "Oh, vomit boy too?" Her smile widened as her eyes narrowed down at the grip Ruby had on Jaune's arm, "Ohhh? What's this?"

"Vomit boy?" Blake muttered thoughtfully, "Don't you mean vomit girl?"

"What?" Yang shook her head, "No, he threw up when he got off the airship!" Yang pointed to Jaune, "I'd never call my dear little sister something so awful!"

"Sister?" Blake blinked a few times, looking between the two of them. Jaune could sympathize with the girl's confusion, after all, Ruby looked absolutely nothing like her sister physically, and mentally they were even further removed from one another. If it weren't the fact that Ruby seemed to nod along with Yang's claim, he'd probably not believe a word of it either.

"Y – Yes." Ruby nodded, and she let go of Jaune to wander over to her sister, "How c – could you leave me alone out there! I – I was so scared!"

"You did fine!" Yang hugged her sister, hefted her up, and spun around in place, ignoring Ruby's cry of alarm, "Look, you even met two people!"

Once Ruby was set down, she turned towards Jaune and Blake, "Um…" And as if she just remembered where she was, she pressed herself into Yang's side, and stared at her two supposed friends. "J – J – Jaune a – and Blake."

"Heya," Yang waved, "Nice to meet you."

"Hi," Blake nodded, "Your sister is… interesting."

Yang simply grinned at the description, and wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulder, which wasn't too difficult, considering the younger girl was still latched onto her like a vice, "Isn't she?" Her expression did soften though, and she looked down to her sister, "You're ok, right? You made sure to look through those notes I gave you?"

Ruby nodded, reaching under her cloak and grabbing said object, "Y – yes. I – it was helpful."

Given the fact that Ruby seemed incapable of forming a sentence without the help of that notebook, or without the presence of her sister, Jaune had to agree that it most certainly was helpful. If she didn't have it, he could imagine that they'd still be stuck trying to learn each other's names. He didn't know if he honestly would have waited around for that if it were the case.

"Seriously though," Yang looked to both him and Blake now, "Thank you a lot for helping her, I know it might be hard to do that, but…" She let out a sigh, and a genuinely large smile crossed her face, "Thanks."

She truly did care for her sister, Jaune realized. Leaving her behind must have been very tough – if one of his sister's had such crippling social anxiety, would he be willing to do the same as her? He didn't know, but he did nod anyway, and held out his hand, "nice to meet you, the name's Jaune Arc, don't wear it out."

Yang just stared at him for a moment, and shook her head laughing, "Figures that the first person Ruby befriends would be a dork," Ouch – that hurt. Despite that, she did reach out and shake his hand, so he guessed that counted for something. Yang turned her attention to the other person standing near them, "So you're Blake eh? What got your roped into this?"

"Saw them complaining on a bench and decided I could help," Blake replied, "Then I guess I got roped into being her friend too." She chuckled a little, "This is going to be an interesting school."

XxXxXxX

Ruby made sure to put on her favorite pajamas in the bathroom, since she didn't want to change in front of so many people. Her sister kept insisting that her dog onesie pajamas were 'uncool' and 'dumb', but when she started crying, Yang backpedaled and said it was ok. She left behind her notebook though, and Crescent Rose was also sitting on her pile of things back in the crowded hall, though at least Yang was there to guard them.

But she wasn't thinking about that too much, instead, she couldn't get over the fact that she _finally_ made a friend – no, not one, but TWO of them! Jaune was a really nice person, and so was Blake, though she didn't know much about them. When she got back to her notebook, she'd have to go to the section about questions to ask her friends. She could at least remember a few of them, since she'd read through Yang's notes dozens of times now, but she had to be sure.

She had to ask about their favorite food, their favorite music, their favorite color… Um, surely there was more than that, but it was a great start! Better than that though, she had a real conversation with them… well, she _did_ try to run away at first, but then she tripped and that was dumb but who cares! Jaune talked to her, and she was even able to tell him her name and age! Oh – right! She forgot to introduce Crescent Rose to him too, but that was in the 'questions for friends' part of her notebook, so she'd be sure to ask introduce them, and she'd also have to make sure to get to know his weapon too.

She just needed to finish brushing her teeth and then she'd go ask them right away! This would be easy! She was positive that she wouldn't stutter around them anymore, because they were practically best friends now!

She was just glad that there wasn't anyone in the rest room now – she had to wait for over an hour hiding from people's sight as girls just kept on going in and out, but now she could prepare for bed in peace. Getting her toothbrush and paste, she started to brush her teeth, but she jumped when she heard the bathroom door creak open.

"A DOG!" The new girl cried, "IT'S SO CUTE!"

Before Ruby could even attempt to say anything (though most likely she'd say nothing anyway), the new girl had crossed the distance between them in seconds, and she was being held by some person she'd never before met in her life. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she went limp, dropping her toothbrush in the process.

"Eh?" The orange haired girl loosened her grip and looked at the 'dog' in her grip, "Are you ok?"

"Ugh…" Ruby opened her eyes, and looked around, "Where…?"

"Hello!"

"Ah!" Ruby flailed her arms, falling away from the strange girl who randomly embraced her, "U – Uhm!" She looked away, reaching for her notebook when she realized she didn't even have it.

"Are you ok, doggie?" The girl asked, leaning forward and touching Ruby's forehead, nearly causing the girl to pass out again.

"H – Hello?" Ruby managed to muster out – internally she cheered at her successful attempt to speak aloud to someone she just met.

"Hi!" The girl grinned happily, finally letting go of Ruby, "You dropped this!" She knelt down and picked up the toothbrush for Ruby, flicking it a few times to get rid of any dust that may have gotten on it.

"T – T – Thankyouverymuch!" Ruby attempted to bow down, but instead smashed her head into the weird girl's head as she was getting up. She darted back, rubbing her forehead and tears started to spring up in the corners of her eyes. Meanwhile, the other girl was rubbing the back of her head.

"Ouchies…" She mumbled, "That hurt~!"

"S – Sorry!" Ruby cried, "Um, I… I…" Where was her notebook when she needed it most?!

"It's ok!" The girl cheered, "You're funny! My name's Nora, who're you?"

"R – R – Ruby." She replied.

"What a pretty name for such a cute puppy!" Nora cooed, taking a step forward to hug Ruby again. Ruby backed up against the wall, and held her arms up in front of her face as she closed her eyes, looking away from the person in front of her.

"I – I'm n – n – not a puppy!" Ruby exclaimed.

"What?"

Ruby spared a look, and saw the absolutely crestfallen expression on the girl's face, "S – Sorry." She apologized yet again, "Um, I – I gotta go." She dashed pass Nora before the girl could recover, and she burst out of the bathroom into the hallway, straight into Yang, knocking both of them to the floor.

"Ah!" Yang cried, landing on her behind, "Sheesh Ruby! Where have you been? It has been over an hour since you left!"

"There was a crazy girl in there," Ruby replied, looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone else in the hallway. There were a few students further away, but they weren't that close, so Ruby felt far more comfortable than she had all day.

"Oh?" Yang's eyebrow raised, "If _you_ say she's crazy, then that must be something very special." Yang took a step towards the bathroom, but Ruby grabbed her hand, holding her back.

"Please, let's not do that." Ruby begged, feeling tears springing up again, "I don't want to see her again!"

"You usually don't act up like this unless if someone gets too close to you," Yang noted, and her eyes narrowed, "Do you want me to deal with her?" She smacked her fist against her open palm.

"N – No!" Ruby shook her head, "Let's just go!"

"Ah, hey!" Yang struggled only a little bit as Ruby pushed her away from the girl's bathroom, and soon they were in the cafeteria, refitted to be their sleeping area for the night. Ruby may have been courageous enough to push her sister away, but the moment she passed the doorway into this room, she froze in place, and her eyes widened at all of the people. "Ruby?"

"U – Um…" Ruby cowered behind her sister, "S – S- So many people… Ugh… I don't feel good…"

"Don't do that!" Yang exclaimed, patting her sister's back, "It'll be alright, we'll go settle down in our corner, alright? I'll make sure no one comes near us."

"W – W - Wait, if y - you were gone then who was w - watching our things?" Ruby fretted, "W - What if s – s - someone came and stole my n – notebook?"

"I doubt anyone would do that," Yang replied, side stepping a few of the students gathered in a circle on the floor. Ruby – as per usual – was doing her best to act as a part of Yang, hoping no one would notice her. "Besides, I got vomit boy to watch it for us, wait til you see what he's wearing…" She snickered, causing Ruby to give her a confused look.

"Oh, hey!" Jaune waved at the two of them as they neared, and despite her nervousness, Ruby had to stop. He was wearing blue full-body pajamas, and if she saw correctly, those were BUNNY slippers on his feet! She just stared at them for the longest time, not hearing Yang at her side.

"Um, Ruby?" Yand nudged her sister.

"It's so cute!" Ruby exclaimed, rushing over to Jaune, but then stopping immediately, remembering where she was. "Um… Slippers… Bunnies…"

"Eh?" Jaune looked down to his feet, and scratched his cheek in embarrassment, "You like them?"

Ruby simply nodded, taking her seat next to her things. She grabbed her notebook, hugging it to her chest, and she eyed Crescent Rose as well, placing a hand on her trusty weapon to calm herself down. Yang sat down beside her, and Jaune sat across from the two of them, giving Ruby an odd look.

"What's up vomit boy?" Yang asked.

"Will you please stop calling me that?" Jaune asked, turning his gaze to the older sister.

"Hm, whenever you impress me I will." Yang decided, "So get to it!"

"Get to impressing you?" Jaune let out a sigh, "Well, I guess vomit boy has a nice ring to it."

"U – Um!" Ruby interjected, "Um… J – Jaune…" She pointed to his slippers yet again.

He raised an eyebrow at her, and looked down to his feet, "Do you want it?" When she nodded to that, he chuckled and took one of his slippers off and held it out to her. Ruby wasted no time in snatching it as quickly as she could, and she looked at it in awe pure happiness. "Woah!" Jaune cried out.

"Ruby, that has been on his foot you know…" Yang muttered, "That's gross!"

"Cute." Ruby simply replied, setting down her notebook so she could hold the slipper better.

"Nice pajamas, by the way." Jaune said, looking at the hood of her pajamas, which had dog eyes and ears on it.

Ruby put the slipper in her lap, and grabbed her notebook again, flipping to the proper page, she read out, "Thank you." She then paused, and started to mutter, "I – I – I l – like your p – pajamas t – too."

"Oh!" Yang clapped her sister on the back, causing the younger girl to sputter in surprise, "Nice job! That was a coherent sentence! I'm so proud of you!"

Ruby beamed at her sister, grabbing the slipper yet again. "Thank you!"

"So it's getting kind of late," Jaune muttered, "We ought to head to bed soon, especially with initiation tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Yang agreed, "Ready for bed, Ruby?"

"B – but…" She looked between Jaune and Yang, "C – Can't we s – stay up a little l – longer?"

"Eh?" Yang raised a brow at her sister.

"I – I mean…" Ruby hugged the slipper closer to herself, "I – I've n – never had a s – slumber party w – with f – friends b – b – before." She glanced over at Jaune, who suddenly frowned, "B – But if you d – don't want to-"

"It's fine." Jaune quickly said, before Ruby could get worked up, "I was just thinking…"

"Yay!" Ruby cheered, "S – So…" She picked up her notebook, flipping it to one of the many pages Yang helpfully provided her, while she left the slipper in her lap. "What's your favorite food?"

XxXxXxX

"Yang?" Jaune tapped the girl on the shoulder the following morning, trying to blink the remaining bits of drowsiness out of his eyes. He had stayed up far longer than he wanted last night, but talking with Ruby and Yang had actually been pretty fun. It certainly didn't hurt that Yang was a bombshell – in fact, most of the girls in this school were a huge grade above the girls back home, and – Ah, he was getting off track. Anyway, he'd wanted to ask Yang some questions, and waited for Ruby to go to the bathroom before he'd ask.

"Yeah?" Yang turned around, "What's up vomit boy?"

He looked around, making sure there weren't that many people in their hallway. Satisfied that no one was around, he asked, "I just want to ask a few questions about Ruby."

Yang's eyes narrowed, and Jaune nearly laughed the entire thing off, but the glare disappeared almost as soon as it came, and Yang just sighed, looking significantly more tired than before. "What do you want to know?" A hint of exasperation was in her voice, as if she'd done this many times before.

"I don't want to be rude, but I want to know why your family thought it was a good idea for her to be here." He stated honestly, "I mean, it's great to be her friend and all, but she can't handle anything by herself."

"That's not true!" Yang shook her head, "She's here for the same reason you and I are here – she's qualified to become a Huntress, you should see her fight."

"Yeah, ok, but even then…" He paused, trying to think of something to say.

"I know." Yang replied, looking dejectedly down to the floor, "I know she's not well adjusted to be around people."

"She acts like a kid."

"I know," Yang nodded, looking back up to him, "Listen, a long time ago something happened that made her turn out this way… We've been trying for years to break her out of this shell she built around herself, but before now we haven't had much luck."

"Seriously?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, usually she just faints or runs away when she meets new people…" She explained, "And if she _does_ manage to talk to people, they typically go away after a while."

"Oh…" Jaune mumbled, "That couldn't have helped her any."

"Not at all," Yang started walking to the bathroom again where she knew Ruby was and Jaune walked at her side, "She'd work so hard to muster up her courage to talk to someone new, and then they just go away…" She shook her head, "Not that I can entirely blame them, Ruby can be… Hard to get along with."

Jaune nodded, "If it weren't for your notebook, I doubt she'd have said a word."

Yang grinned slightly, "I'm glad that the notebook is helping her at least."

"But what happened to make her like this?" Jaune asked, but he backed away when he noticed her intense glare, "On the other hand…"

"Ugh, sorry." Yang shook her head, "Thinking about it makes me angry, and I'd rather not talk about it. You'll have to learn about it from Ruby."

"Well, I'll just put that in the 'never going to happen' category." He replied dryly.

"I could tell you, but I think it would help her much more if she told you herself. Whether that's a week from now or a few years from now, it'll be better in the long run." Yang stated, stopping at the entrance of the bathroom.

"I get it," He nodded, "I'll wait out here."

"Sure thing." Yang waved to him, but then stopped, "And Jaune, thank you for staying with her and…" She paused trying to find the right word, "… tolerate her strange behavior. I know from experience that it's not easy."

A genuine smile, and he happily returned it with one of his ones. She actually called him by his first name! He couldn't even stop grinning after she disappeared into the restroom, leaving him out in the hallway. Score one for Jaune! Aw yeah! He continued cheering internally in his mind, noticing only by the prominent color of red that Ruby and Yang left the bathroom together, wearing their… well, he _guessed_ it was combat gear, but really, if they didn't want to get hurt, shouldn't they put on a bit of armor?

Ruby looked at him with a shy smile, and inclined her head only slightly, "H – hello."

"Hey," He nodded to her, "No notebook today?"

"We don't want it to get ruined during the test," Yang replied, "Weapons only!"

Ruby patted her hand against Crescent Rose, but swiftly put up her hood when a random passerby wandered by. She gripped Yang with her hands, and pressed her body closer to her sister's. Jaune chuckled, and followed the two of them to the locker room for their final preparations. Though Ruby carried her weapon, he and Yang were still unarmed.

Upon entering the locker room, Jaune nearly bumped into the two girls in front of him, managing only to stop just in time. "What's going on?" Jaune asked curiously.

"PUPPY!" An orange and pink ran towards them at full force, and Jaune had to resist the urge to jump out of the way. Rather than an explosion though, the blur – now he could identify it as a girl – grabbed Ruby away from Yang and spun around hugging her to her chest. "I missed you so much!"

Jaune could see Ruby's eyes roll to the back of her head, and her body went limp in the strange girl's arms. Yang in the meantime was just staring as well… He couldn't blame her, he was just as speechless.

"Nora, stop it." A boy in green gently slapped the strange girl on the back of the head, "She's unconscious."

"Huh?" Nora looked down at Ruby, and let out a gasp, "Oh! Ren! She's sleeping now! How cute!"

"U – Um…?" Was all Yang could muster.

"Nora…" Ren sighed, "I think her friends would appreciate it if you let her go."

"Huh?" Nora finally seemed to notice Yang and Jaune, and she gently handed Ruby back to Yang, "Sorry about that! I just got super excited! I saw her last night but she just ran away from me."

"Oh," Yang nodded, holding her sister's limp body, "So you were the one she was talking about last night."

Ruby chose that time to blink her eyes, and she glanced up at Yang, "Ugh… I had a nightmare…" She mumbled to her sister, leaning further into her chest, "This weird girl came out of nowhere and hugged me… Scary…"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that actually happened." Yang replied, which caused Ruby to stiffen immediately. The younger girl frantically looked around, and realized that everyone was still around her, and the girl who held her was grinning at her, giving her a short wave.

"Ahhh!" Ruby darted behind Jaune and Yang, "S – Save me!" She cried, eyeing Nora fearfully.

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle, especially after seeing Ren shaking his head at his friend's antics. Nora only looked confused, while Yang too looked just as amused as he was. "I apologize for her behavior," Ren started, "She's usually not quite _this_ hyperactive, but with the test starting today…" He trailed off, smiling apologetically.

"Honestly after meeting Ruby I didn't think anything stranger was going to phase me anymore, but that was pretty surprising," Jaune finally spoke up, "The name's Jaune Arc, nice to meet ya." He held out his hand to Ren, glad that the more normal of the two of them recognized the social cue and shook it.

"Lie Ren, but please, just call me Ren." He looked over to Nora, who was still giving a predatory look, "And that's Nora Valkyrie. We've been friends ever since we were children."

"Ren and I go WAY back!" Nora exclaimed, still looking at Ruby intently, "We've always been friends and have a LOT of fun! I would love to find another friend, but I don't know where!" Her gaze on Ruby seemed to become even more intense at that.

"Nora, subtlety has never been your strong point," Ren replied, shaking his head.

"I – I – I hope y – you find a – a new f – f – friend." Ruby replied, which in turn caused Yang and Jaune to just sigh. Of course, Ruby wouldn't have gotten the hint even if it was written in bright neon words in front of her.

"All first year students, please meet at the Emerald Cliffs." An announcement suddenly went off, causing the five of them to look up at the PA, "I repeat, all first year students make your way to the Emerald Cliffs."

"SHOW TIME!" Nora shouted loudly, "See you guys later! Ren let's go!"

"Yeah, ok." Ren replied, "See you guys around!" He followed Nora quickly, likely to make sure she didn't destroy anything in her rush to the exit.

Jaune opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it just as quickly. What in the world could he say to _that_? Finally, he managed to come up with something, and he turned to the sisters, "I need to grab my weapon real quick, can you guys hold on?"

"Yeah," Yang replied, "I need to get mine too, hold on Ruby."

Moments later the three of them followed the crowd outside to the cliff, and Jaune's mouth fell open when he saw the vista. The Emerald Forest lay stretched out before him, but it looked more like a Jungle than a forest in his mind. It was impossible to see the ground beyond the canopy of the trees, and he could see every once in a while a flock of birds bursting out of the canopy in an area – were they being attacked by Grimm there? The thought made his gut churn, as he realized just what he'd gotten himself into now.

Even more amazing than the scary forest though was at the base of the cliff was a massive structure. He had no idea what its purpose was, but it looked very old. A large bridge crossed an endless abyss to a tower in the middle, and surrounding the tower were smaller stone buildings, several of them destroyed by what he presumed to be Grimm. All of the buildings appeared to be connected via multiple smaller bridges, giving it an almost spider web like appearance. Again, his heart sank at the sight, and he took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"You ok Jaune?" Yang asked, giving him a curious look as they followed instructions and lined up on the strange pads along the top of the cliff. Ozpin and Glynda were patrolling around, making sure that all of the students were properly situated, and moments later, Jaune's heart froze as he saw a student farther down the line suddenly get launched into the sky towards the forest.

"Um," Jaune wanted to laugh it off, but he really couldn't, "I… Think I'm going to need a bag," He admitted, feeling the nausea welling up inside of him.

"Remember," Glynda walked by them, "The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years. We have camera all over the forest –" Another student was suddenly launched – "So we'll know if you fail to follow this instruction. Failure to follow the rules, as you all know, will lead to an automatic failure."

"Ok, so find a partner, and get the relic back to the cliff, right?" Jaune muttered aloud, trying to regain his focus, "Easy… It'll be easy."

Ruby, who was between Yang and Jaune, looked at him curiously. Oddly enough, the launching of the students coming closer and closer wasn't worrying her, and she looked more confident if anything. It figures, he supposed, since Yang did say this was her element. "W – Will I be ok?" She wondered aloud, suddenly looking nervous.

"You'll be fine!" Yang laughed, "Like the Grimm could beat you!"

"N – No!" She shook her head, looking fearful now, "W – What I – if my partner d – doesn't l – like me?"

"I'll find you," Jaune told her confidently, "So don't worry about that." Of course, his bravado fell the moment he saw the person right next to Yang getting launched into the forest. Instead, he focused on Ruby, and blinked in surprise at the pure happiness that seemed to radiate off of her.

"Ok," She nodded, "We'll b – be partners."

Yang was suddenly launched away, leaving just the two of them left. "Yeah," Jaune replied thickly, keeping his terror to himself, "Partners."

"Good luck," Ruby nodded, just as she was launched. Jaune watched her do several flips in the air as she rushed towards the landscape, and he tried to take note of where she was going to land, but that thought process ended the moment his stomach lurched and he was sent into the air. How in the WORLD did Ruby make this look so ridiculously easy, with all of the flipping and crap like that?! He flailed his arms, and let out one of the most unmanly and terrified screams of his life as he approached the forest below. It wasn't like anyone was around to hear him make a fool of himself at least.

XxXxXxX

Ruby crashed through the forest canopy just as she planned, clearing any of the branches and leaves clouding her vision easily aside. She then landed on the ground, her legs bending slightly, which was fine, she was able to stabilize herself by putting her palm flat to the ground, and she had her scythe out ready to strike at any Grimm that dared to attack her. Her eyes scanned around the area she was in, making sure it was clear before she allowed her body to relax only slightly. Standing up, she looked around, trying to figure out where exactly Jaune was.

The quickest way was probably to go to the top of the trees and see where he landed, so she did just that. With a quick burst of speed from her semblance, she rushed up the nearest tree, and before gravity could reclaim her, she jumped onto a branch and repeated the process. Once she was at the top, she could see the cliffs, and she noticed Jaune was already airborne. Her eyes tracked him expertly, and once he disappeared from view, she hopped down from the massive tree back to the floor, and started to rush her way towards where she knew he was.

Every once in a while she'd run into a Grimm, but with the use of her semblance and her scythe, they were cut down in mere seconds. Running quickly did have its difficulties though, she did have to stop quite often to make sure she could traverse around the more difficult parts of the path with roots covering the way. If only her super speed gave her a slowed perspective as well so she could actually react to the things coming at her face… That would be super cool.

"J – Jaune?!" She called out, figuring she was close enough to his location now. She already felt the anxiety in her chest growing again, and she tried to squash it – Jaune was her friend! She could trust him!

"AHHH!" Ruby turned towards the sound and darted to the location, and was surprised by way she saw. Jaune was ok, but he was surrounded by a dozen Beowolves. His sword was knocked out of his hand, and she could see his leg was bleeding pretty badly. She tilted her head at that – shouldn't his aura have healed that? It didn't even look like it was healing at all, so it must have meant his aura was almost out!

Her eyes widened in realization – her friend was in real trouble, and if she didn't act, he was going to die! With a feral yell, she rushed out of the surrounding woods and darted towards the Beowolf about to kill him, and she sliced it cleanly in two. The rest reacted to her presence by howling and growling at her, but she stood her ground in front of Jaune, her scythe ready to swing at a moment's notice. The first one to foolishly try to attack was easily dispatched as she side stepped its charge, and cut off its legs before finishing it with a downward swing.

"Holy crap," She heard Jaune say. She had no time to look back though as another three tried to gang up on her, but with a quick spin, she'd easily killed them. The remaining Grimm warily circled them, but after a few more tense seconds, one of the larger ones barked at the rest, and they retreated shortly after. Ruby didn't let her guard down, and waited a full minute before she was sure they were really gone. She retracted Crescent Rose, putting it on her belt, and she turned to face Jaune.

"H – Hello." Her confidence slowly drained as he just looked at her in awe, "A – Are y – you ok?"

"Yang wasn't kidding," He finally said, "You're amazing!"

She blushed at the praise, and looked at anything other than him, "U – Um… T – Thanks."

"Ack," He tried to stand, and she turned her gaze back at him, noticing he was gritting his teeth as he held his injured knee, "This hurts," He told her honestly, "That fall kind of screwed me over, and then those monsters came…" He let out a shuddered breath, "Thank you for the save, partner."

Her heart thumped loudly at that, and she grinned, "Y – yeah, partner."

"Do you have some bandages with you?" He asked, glancing fearfully at her knee, "I don't know if I can run with this."

"Um… W – Why isn't you a – aura healing y – you?" Ruby asked as she knelt down beside him and looked at his injury. In the meantime, he'd reached for his sword, and she could see a small amount of relief enter his eyes as he held the blade tightly. Setting it down for now next to his shield, he glanced at her in confusion.

"Aura?" He asked curiously.

Ruby tilted her head at Jaune, "Huh?"

"What's aura?" He clarified.

"Um… Y – You don't know?"

"Eheh…" He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, "No, I didn't pay much attention to these lessons when I was a kid and… stuff…"

Ruby's mind worked in overdrive – if he didn't have an aura, what did that really mean? Wasn't it _required_ for your aura to be unlocked prior to attending Beacon? So… If he actually managed to get into Beacon without it, then that could only mean one thing… "You must be _very_ s – strong." She muttered in awe, giving him the same expression he'd been giving her only moments before, "Amazing…"

"Huh?" He blinked in surprise, and then he bit back his further confusion, disguising it under another loud laugh, "Yeah! I – I guess so!"

"D – Does that mean you d – don't want me to u – unlock your aura f – for you?" She asked shyly, glancing back to his wound, "It m – might be a g – good idea."

"YES!" He exclaimed, "Yes, please, unlock it – however that's done!"

She was surprised by his enthusiasm, figuring that he wouldn't have wanted it done, since he lasted so long without it. However, she was happy that he trusted her so much to do it for him, so she said, "Ok, t – then stand u – up." She held out a hand that was only shaking a little bit – though it began to rattle much more when he gripped her hand – and she helped him back to his feet. "Now… Stand s – still and close y – your eyes."

"Okay," He agreed readily, trying to stand straight despite his hurt leg.

"Um…" Ruby touched his shoulder, "I – I think I know h – how to do this…"

"Alright…"

"Uh…" She frowned, "Something… Something… Virtue… Glory… I – I release y – your soul… Protect you… S – something?" She lowered her hand, "F – Feel anything?"

"Am I supposed to?" He asked.

"Y – Yeah, your aura, you should f – feel it now." She explained, "It's… l – like a force a – around you."

"Huh," He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands, and then blinked his eyes a few more times, as if he thought each time he opened his eyes his aura would manifest. "I don't think it worked."

Ruby's eyes began to tear up, "Ugh… I – I'm sorry… Uncle Qrow t – told me how to do it, b – but that was a l – long time ago, and I – I forgot how to do it…" She fruitlessly wiped her eyes, but it didn't stop the tears at all, "I'm worthless… I s – should just go h – home now, b – b – because I'm a failure!"

"Ah! W – Wait!" He cried, "I think I feel it! Yeah, it feels amazing!" He stepped on his injured foot, and she could hear him whimpering, "Yep… Feels… Great." He took a few more handful of steps, "Wow, that's really great!"

"D – Did it really work?" She asked.

"Of course!" He gave her a thumbs up, "Would I lie to you?"

"F – Friends don't lie to each other," She nodded, remembering what Yang told her in the past, "I'm so happy!" She clapped her hands together excitedly, "I was afraid I – I forgot how to do it!"

"Yep…" He picked up his sword and shield, making the shield turn into a sheath and he put it to his belt, "So… Should we get going? Those Relics aren't…" he took another step, and she saw him wince, "G – Going to find themselves."

She rushed over to his side, giving him a nod, "Yeah!"

XxXxXxX

Every single step he took was agonizing, but he had to hold back his tears and whimpers for her sake. Why in the world was he even doing this? Well, he of course knew the answer to that, he'd felt bad for Ruby when she'd failed to unlock his aura, so he decided to pretend he'd obtained it. It was great at first! Ruby was so happy, happier than he'd ever seen her, but then afterwards he'd slowly come to regret that decision more and more, since each step sent a jolt of horrible pain up his leg.

How long had they been walking anyway? Ruby had at one point taken the lead, not that he cared, since she easily dispatched the small handful of Grimm that dare cross their paths with ease, but he wished she'd slow down the pace a little bit. Still, it _felt_ like they were making good progress, and if he had to guess, they'd been walking for close to twenty minutes, despite his body's cries that it had to have been at _least_ seventy million years.

"J – Jaune…" Ruby finally, _thankfully_ , came to a stop, and he limped up to her side, glad she couldn't see his gait since she was in front, "D – Do you t – think that's it?" She pointed to what looked like a small ruin, similar to the ones just below the emerald cliffs.

"Maybe?" he replied, "Let's check it out."

He tried to be stealthy, but with his knee killing him like it was, he couldn't manage more than a strange, half-drunk limp towards the ruins. Ruby didn't even attempt to be stealthy, instead just walking normally at his side. He could see her giving him confused looks, and he perhaps _should_ have said something aloud about being sneaky, but he didn't really think of it at the time. Oh well, it wasn't as if he was being stealthy anyway.

"I – It looks like game board pieces," She mumbled as they got closer, and he could identify small stands in a large circle. On each of the stone stands was what looked like a chess piece. Jaune finally stopped his poor attempt at stealth, and stood up fully when he and Ruby neared the closest one. They both stopped and looked down at the black horse piece, "W – What I – is this called?"

"A knight," He replied, "It's from chess, it's a game my sisters and I would play from time to time back home."

"Is t – this the r – relic?" She asked uncertainly.

"I don't know," He mumbled, reaching out and grabbing the piece. He lifted it a few times and shrugged, "I mean…" he looked around at the rest of the pieces of the stands, "They stand out like a sore thumb out here, and knowing Ozpin from what little we've seen of him…" Well, the man did seem to be… eccentric, to put it lightly.

"So w – we can play a – a game of chess if w – we gather t – them all?" She asked.

"This thing fills my hand, that would have to be a pretty big board," He replied, "Plus, I don't really want to play chess out here with the Grimm waiting around to eat me."

"Ah, t – that's true." She nodded, "G – Good thinking."

"I'm just amazed we didn't run into any trouble getting here!" He exclaimed, "I figured we'd… I dunno, run into a giant horrible monster that wants to eat our souls, but there was nothing!" He paused, "Well, I mean from a few Beowolves, but you took care of that easily enough."

"Y – Yeah," She nodded.

"If this is all it takes to be a Hunter, I think we've got it in the bag!" He threw his arm holding the chess piece up in a cheer, "Yeah! We rock!"

"Yeah!" Ruby mimicked his motion.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" They both spun around (Ruby jumped behind Jaune), and they saw Yang running into the clearing with a gigantic Ursa chasing after her. Yang looked around, and scowled, "Where'd that prissy girl run off to?"

"Prissy?!" A girl in white jumped over to Yang's side as they turned to face the Ursa, "Who're you calling prissy, you brute!"

"What? You're prissy because you wanted to avoid that stupid marsh, and we ran into this stupid monster because of that!" Yang exclaimed, "Plus, look at you! Who wears a dress into the woods?"

"Um…" Ruby glanced down at her own attired, "D – Do y – you think this looks d – dumb?" Ruby asked Jaune.

"No," He replied, though internally he had to agree with Yang, who _would_ wear a dress out here? "You look fine."

"Good." Ruby decided.

"Think they'll notice us any time soon?" Jaune asked, feeling pretty content with sitting back and watching the two girls bicker, especially when there was that giant Grimm ready to eat them. Really, if it could do its business and then leave him and Ruby alone, that would be wonderful.

"THIS DRESS IS VERY PRACTICAL!" The white-dressed girl yelled right back, "And we wouldn't have this stupid thing after us if some idiot didn't run into it like they were blind!"

"Well EXCUSE me princess!" Yang yelled back.

"I'll show you a princess!" Her eyes started twitching as she glared at her partner, or at least, Jaune _thought_ they were partners. They sure didn't act like it though.

"GUYS! THE URSA!" He cried as the beast started its attack.

"Huh?" Yang glanced over, "Jaune? Ruby?! You're both already -" She was swiped away by the Ursa, slamming violently into the tree across the clearing from her. Jaune couldn't help but let out a girlish scream, while Ruby gripped his arm in obvious worry.

"Thank you," Yang's partner let out a pleased sigh, "Now you die."

The Ursa was dispatched relatively quickly, the girl using what appeared to be glyphs as her weapon. How she summoned them and used them was absolutely baffling Jaune, so he just watched with his mouth dropped open, "That's amazing," He muttered loud enough for Ruby to hear, and the girl couldn't help but nod her head in agreement.

"Finally," She sighed, having dispatched the monster. Her eyes turned towards the two of them by the ruins, "You two! Are those the relics?" She walked over despite her question, and she snatched the first piece she could, "Thank goodness, if I had to stay here for another minute with that yellow haired barbarian, I think I would go insane."

"I can't believe you're my partner." Jaune's mouth dropped open as Yang walked over, apparently completely uninjured – was that the power of aura? Now he wished Ruby was able to unlock his, since that seemed like it would be super useful, especially with his leg in such excruciating pain.

"That makes two of us," The stuck-up girl replied.

"Jaune, Ruby," Yang turned to the other two finally, "This is Little Ms. Prissy Brat, my..." She let out a very long and deep sigh, "My partner."

"The name's Weiss!" The girl shrieked, "Get it right!"

"I'll call you by your name when you call me by mine!" Yang retorted, glaring just as much back at the girl.

"I expect such behavior from a brute like you!" Weiss growled, "Why was I unfortunately enough to get _you_ as my partner?!"

"I'm thinking the same thing!" Yang exclaimed.

Jaune could see lightning arcing between the two girl's eyes, and he backed up, trying not to whimper as he put weight on his bad leg. Ruby had no objection to backing up at all, and kept pace with him as they inched away from the feuding teammates. When they were a good few feet away, Jaune cleared his throat, "Uh, ladies?"

"I'm going to the headmaster right after this to DEMAND a new partner!" Weiss exclaimed, "My father will know about this!"

"Oh, crying back to your daddy for help, how typical for someone like you!"

"Do you even know who I am?!"

"Why should I care?" Yang yelled right back.

"Jaune," Ruby whispered, "I'm scared."

"Me too," He assured the girl. That Weiss girl was awfully pretty though, but seeing her screaming at the top of her lungs and looking so damn murderous… He figured he'd put his 'Snow Angel' pick-up line to the side for now, since he didn't really want to get her attention at the moment. "Hello?" He tried again to get their attention.

Jaune never felt so uncomfortable watching two people argue before in his life. Even when his parents argued, at least they kept it out of sight and they made up after a few hours. This? He could sense the pure rabid hate they each held for one another, and he knew it was only due to the rules of this initiation test that kept them from flying at each other in rage. Hell, how long would their restraint even last? Were Yang's eyes turning _red_?!

Before Jaune decided to just sprint away from the two ladies, an explosion rocked the land, causing the ruins to shake, loosening the stone ever so slightly as a layer of dust to fly into the air. His eyes – along with the three girls – all shot towards the forest surrounding the ruins, where a body of a Beowolf was suddenly thrown into the clearing, its head blown completely off. Following it out was Nora, holding what seemed to be a grenade launcher, and trailing right behind her was Blake.

"Aw yeah!" Nora stomped on the body of the dead Grimm, "Team Nora-Blake is in the house!" She glanced up from the Beowolf, and grinned as she saw the four people already there. Unfortunately for Ruby, the older girl's eyes landed solely on her, and she let out a loud, "PUPPY!"

Ruby shrunk back, trying to hide herself completely from the girl as she barreled over, and Jaune didn't know whether to dodge out of the way like a coward, or stand his ground and attempt to protect Ruby. In the end his valor won out, and he braced himself as the girl rushed over. He closed his eyes just as Nora was a few feet away, and then he let out a gasp as all of the air was thrown out of his lungs. Behind him, he could hear Ruby doing the same thing.

"I was afraid I wouldn't see you again!" Nora exclaimed, spinning around as she hugged the two. Jaune was amazed at her strength, since she was somehow easily able to pick up him and Ruby and lift them up high enough to spin and not even break a sweat. Just what kind of people went to this place?!

"N – Need air…" Jaune managed to gasp out, and he was thankful that Nora dropped them to the ground. Granted, it wasn't a nice drop, and landing on his leg caused him to let out a cry, but it was the thought that counted. He glanced back to Ruby, who coughed a few times, but otherwise seemed ok.

"So are these the relics?" Blake casually walked over, glancing at the chess pieces lined up all over the place.

"We think so, yeah," Jaune got up, "Nice to see you again, by the way."

Blake nodded, allowing a small smile on her face and she looked to the two of them, "Nice to see you two again too," She replied, "Figures you'd become teammates."

"It really was a last minute plan, actually." Jaune told her honestly, "But it worked out in the end."

"H – Hello," Ruby was looking to the ground, though she was at least facing Blake as she got up, "U – Um, d – d – did you… um…" She paused, as if trying to find the right words, "Have trouble," She sounded them out and nodded, "Did you have trouble c – coming here?"

"A little," Blake replied, "But once I found Nora there wasn't anything we couldn't handle." She picked up the other knight piece, and looked at it curiously, "So I guess this means we can get out of here now."

"T – Thank goodness," Ruby smiled, still not looking directly at Blake. It was progress at least, Jaune thought, since she wasn't using her notebook to find the right words.

"Nora," Ren's voice caused Jaune to turn towards the boy who just seemed to appear out of nowhere, "Are you harassing that poor girl again?"

"No way!" Nora denied.

"Hey! Don't lie!" Jaune exclaimed.

"It seems everyone's having a lot of fun," An unfamiliar girl with long red hair replied, stepping up to Ren's side, "It's nice to meet you all, I'm Pyrrha."

"Uh, Jaune." He replied, holding his hand out for her to shake, which she gladly did, "This girl here is…" He noticed Ruby wasn't at his side anymore, and he felt a weight pressing into his back, "This girl behind me is Ruby, my partner." He replied. He knew Ruby was giving the new comer a wary look, but he did feel her nod her head shyly towards her. "She's a bit shy."

"She's cute," Pyrrha grinned, "And the rest of you are…"

"You've already met Nora," Ren replied, pointing to his friend.

"And I'm Blake," the black haired girl inclined her head, "Nice to meet you too."

"And those two…?" Pyrrha pointed to Weiss and Yang, who were _still_ busy barking at each other like rabid dogs. Didn't they even _care_ that there were more witnesses around now?!

"Yang and Weiss," Jaune helpfully pointed them out, "They… Are just having a minor disagreement."

"Minor?" Pyrrha asked, looking incredibly uncertain.

"You know how it is…" Jaune helplessly shrugged, looking for the others for support, but realized Ruby wouldn't inclined to say anything, and Blake wasn't likely to speak either. "Well… Okay, maybe it's a _bit_ more than a minor disagreement."

"We've all got our relic pieces," Ren spoke up, picking a random chess piece, "I say we break them up and make our way back. The longer we stay out here, the more dangerous it'll be."

"I like that idea," Jaune admitted.

"Then it's settled," Blake replied, "You two!" She turned to address Yang and Weiss, but the girls were still arguing. "Hello?" That didn't work. Finally Blake seemed to get fed up, "LISTEN TO ME!" She shouted right next to them, causing them to cease their argument and look right at Blake, "Finally… Grab a relic piece and come on, we're leaving before something bad happens."

"Nothing worse could happen," Weiss grumbled, glaring at her partner.

"At least we can agree about that," Yang growled, though at least she didn't get back into an argument with her. She grabbed a chess piece and toss it over to Weiss, who fumbled with it briefly before getting a good grip on it, "Now let's go."

As if to address the point about how they _really_ needed to leave now, a giant Nevermore flew right over them, letting out a ferocious roar. Jaune's mouth dropped open at the sight of it, and he could even feel Ruby still at the sight of the beast. "You've got to be freaking kidding me." He muttered to himself.

"If that isn't our cue to leave, then I don't know what is." Blake muttered.

As if waiting for such a deadpan response, the eight of them spotted dozens of Beowolves coming through the tree line towards the ruins, drool seeping down their maws as they neared. Jaune took a step back from them, Ruby keeping up perfectly, and he looked around, "Anyone else have anything to say?"

"Yeah!" Nora cheered, "What ELSE could-"

Ren immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, "Nora, don't jinx us, please."

"Enough chit chat!" Weiss cried, "We need to move, NOW!"

With that, they started to rush away towards the distant cliffs. Rather, Jaune TRIED to run, but his leg was seriously killing him, and each step he took sent a jolt of immense pain up his leg. He was only able to keep up the pace for about ten seconds before he _had_ to stop, and he collapsed to the ground, panting in pain. Ruby stopped as he fell, looking at him in concern, "J – Jaune?"

"I'm fine!" He exclaimed, "J – Just help me up…"

This was bad. He was pretty sure his leg going numb was a pretty bad sign, but he could also see the blood from the wound beginning to seep out some more. He grit his teeth, and with Ruby's help, got back to his feet, only just barely managing to hold back a cry of pain as he stood up fully. "Jaune…" She mumbled, seeing the blood on his knee, "Y – Your aura isn't working?"

Crap. He didn't want Ruby to know! "It's ok Ruby, I'll be fine." He tried to assure the girl with a smile, but the moment he stepped on his increasingly numb leg, he collapsed to the ground, letting out a startled cry. That time hurt significantly more than any other before! "Argh, damn!"

"What's wrong with him?" Yang backtracked to them, she then noticed the wound, "Come on Jaune, use your aura to heal that, we gotta MOVE!"

"Yeah, about that…" Jaune struggled to laugh, but that stopped the moment razor sharp feathers smashed into the ground behind them, and it was only Ruby's quick thinking with her scythe, destroying the ones about to hit them that they managed to live at all.

"Whatever, hold on tight!" Yang picked him up bridal style and started running as quickly as she could, Ruby only a few paces behind her. Jaune wanted to cry out in indignation, but considering they were being chased by Beowolves and there was a giant freaking bird chasing after them, he'd swallow his pride this once.

The ruined tower hovering over the abyss was coming nearer, and fortunately Yang didn't seem to be slowing down at all, despite the additional weight of a fully grown teenager she was holding. He looked over her shoulder, and he let out a startled cry of fear, "Holy crap, there's way too many of them!"

"That's why we're running genius!" Yang cried out. Finally the trio made it to the rest of the group who were taking a breather before the bridge. Unfortunately the break wasn't going to last very long, since they were still being chased. Yang looked around at all of them, "Ok, anyone have a plan for this?"

Ruby was sitting next to Jaune, looking very troubled, and Jaune wanted to ask her what was wrong, but given their situation, such things could wait. Right now, they had to deal with this mess, but he was honestly at a loss on how to do it with his leg as injured as it was.

XxXxXxX

There were so many people! Ruby was terrified of everyone gathered around her as they started to make their way across the bridge, so she just stuck close to Jaune and Yang. She _did_ know Blake, but not very well, since she hadn't stayed with them that night when they held that massive slumber party. Nora in the meantime was absolutely terrifying, since she was always so keen on hugging her, so she made sure to keep as much distance from her as possible. The rest were unknowns, really, but they seemed… Well… They were people, at any rate.

To make things even worse though, Jaune _still_ seemed to be hurt, even after unlocking his aura! She didn't realize the wound was so deep that even aura would take this long to heal it. He must have hated her, since she didn't even notice it all this time! She tried not to let her tears fall, especially when they were being chased by so many Grimm, but it was difficult not to! This was her very first friend, and she'd already blown it when it really counted! She was sure that he was going to request a new partner, since she was so worthless when it came to things that really mattered!

Now that she was sitting beside him, she was feeling even worse, because even though she noticed him glancing her way once or twice, he didn't say a single thing! It was official – he hated her now. She had so much fun with him last night though, and her sister really liked him too, and now it was all over! She again felt tears coming, and though she squeezed her eyes shut, the tears just wouldn't stop this time. She couldn't hear any of the arguments among the many people around her, since she was wallowing so deep in her misery.

"Run across the bridge, excellent plan, your holiness!" Yang exclaimed, "And THEN what? Wait for the Grimm to tire us out and kill us? Yeah, great plan!"

"Well what do you suggest?!" Weiss yelled right back, "Sit out here and die faster? Besides it's not like the teachers will let us die out here!"

"I'm pretty sure if they have to come help us out, then we freaking FAIL!" Yang pulled at her hair in frustration, "Great idea!"

"Shut up!" Weiss stomped her foot, "Look, we have one injured already, and that girl's crying, so I doubt she'll be of any use. That's two down already to a grand total of six of us – six of us against a giant Nevermore and dozens of Beowolves!"

"Huh?" Yang glanced over, "Ruby? What's wrong?" She immediately stopped her argument and went to her sister's side hugging her, "It's alright, we'll be fine."

"It's not that," Ruby replied. She could slaughter the amount of Beowolves coming at them in seconds if she really wanted. No, it was the fact that she failed her fourth goal for coming to Beacon, since she'd _lost_ a friend instead of gained one.

"Then what is it?" Yang asked, ignoring the others looking away awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say.

"I'm a – a bad f – f – f - friend," Ruby muttered through her tears.

"Eh?" Jaune looked over, "What?"

"I let you down," Ruby muttered, "I'm sorry, I understand if you don't want to be my partner anymore!"

Jaune and Yang exchanged a quick look, before they both looked back to Ruby, "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, Ruby." Jaune replied, and Ruby spared a glance at him to see pure confusion written all over his face.

"But… Y – your wound… I didn't realize it was s – s – so bad that even y – your aura couldn't fix it." She mumbled sadly, "I should've kn - known."

There was a very long and awkward silence yet again as Jaune glanced away. If the situation wasn't so urgent, Ruby was sure that the moment would have lasted forever, but since they had Grimm coming upon them, she was forced to her feet by her sister, and Crescent Rose was put back into her arms, "Ruby, we can resolve this later," Yang said seriously, "Can you help me fight?"

Despite her tears, Ruby nodded to her sister. "Yeah, I can."

"FIGHT?" Weiss screeched, "So we're going along with your idiotic plan?!"

"It'll be fun!" Nora lifted up her weapon, shifting it in a gigantic hammer, while Ren stepped to her side, "Right, Ren?"

"I guess." He replied, stepping to her side, "Shall we?"

"We'll stay back here and provide support," Pyrrha spoke up, and then she looked to Jaune, "And we'll make sure he doesn't get hurt."

"And what about that?" Blake pointed above them where the Nevermore soared over them, "I don't think ignoring it will help us."

"Leave that to me," Weiss growled, "The very least I can do in this situation is make myself look good by taking that out."

"I'll help," Blake told the girl.

"Fair enough," Weiss replied, and the two girls took off down the bridge to the central tower, intending to climb it to get high enough to fight the flying monstrosity.

Ruby didn't hear any more conversation as she was thrust forth, with Yang, Nora, and Ren. Her nervousness around others disappeared as she started to fight the Grimm, her uncle's training taking over immediately. Almost a decade of practice and refinement guided her every move, allowing her to weave around the Grimm on the battlefield, not a single scratch landing on her the entire time. When needed, she'd use her semblance to avoid a claw here or there, but with Yang at her side, she easily dispatched the enemies around her.

"This is easy!" Yang cheered, smashing a Beowolf's face in, "I don't get why Weiss was being so pissy about it!"

"Guys?" They glanced over to Ren, who just finished off a Beowolf, and then started pointing to the edge of the ruins where it met the forest, and more of the Grimm were starting to come forth. In addition the Beowolves, there were even a few Ursa in the mix. "We might have a problem."

"Nothing we can't handle!" Yang cried, rushing forth.

"Aw yeah! Let's do this!" Nora hopped on the head of her hammer, and with the click of a button on the handle, it blasted her towards the enemies. Ruby decided not to waste the dust, and used her semblance to cross the distance between herself and the Grimm.

The Beowolves were defeated with ease like those before them, but the Ursa proved to be a more difficult problem. They were so large that even with a single swing of her scythe, she couldn't cut straight through them, and as a result she couldn't rely on doing that, lest her weapon get stuck in one of the beasts impeding her combat ability. That didn't mean that she couldn't still pierce their bodies enough until they fell down and died, and if she reinforced her attack with her aura, then she could actually manage to do significant enough damage to slay the beast.

"ABOVE!" Yang shouted, and Ruby only had a second to look up before she was knocked to the side by the giant Nevermore still gliding around. She was only disoriented for a little bit, but it was enough to where an Ursa was about to slash down at her. She tried to swing her scythe, but she realized that she must have accidentally dropped it when she was caught off guard. An amateur mistake! She went to roll away, but given the size of the beast, she wasn't sure if she could get away.

"NO!"

She paused – that was Jaune's voice! "Jaune?!" She cried, looking back up, and she saw him blocking its attack with his shield. How in the world did he even manage to get here? She shoved that thought aside and jumped to her feet.

"Argh!" Jaune's arm fell to his side, "Crap! That thing hit harder than I thought!"

"H – Hold on!" She dashed for her scythe, hoping she could help Jaune in time. Unfortunately, the beast slashed at Jaune yet again, and time slowed for her. He wasn't holding up his shield this time, and she could see his face contorting in terror, before he closed his eyes and crossed his good arm in front of his face. "JAUNE!" She couldn't bear to watch, and looked away at the last moment.

Rather than the sickening sound of flesh being torn, she heard a much stranger sound. It sounded as if the beast had hit something metallic. When she looked back up, she could see that around him was some sort of shield, a force field of sorts. "A – Am I dead?" he asked uncertainly, looking around. There was a brief moment where he looked absolutely astonished to be alive, and then he looked to Ruby, "What happened?"

"Your s – semblance." Ruby replied in awe.

"Semblance?" His eyes widened, "Wait…" He moved his foot, "It doesn't hurt anymore! Hah! So this is what aura feels like! Amazing!"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha rushed over, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, and sorry for running off like that." He winced as the Ursa smashed against his force field again, and he turned towards it, "Um, hold on…"

Ruby took the initiative, and managed to slay the Ursa, and then she slipped into Jaune's force field. It was a circular field around him, easily able to surround both him and Ruby, and she felt no resistance when she entered it. She noticed a Beowolf try to strike at it, but unlike how she was easily able to enter with no resistance, the monster's claw smashed uselessly against the shield, not even leaving a mark. She then grabbed Jaune's arm, looking nervously over at Pyrrha.

"Is now really the time for this?" Jaune asked in exasperation, but he shook his head, "Never mind, we have work to do."

"That Nevermore," Ruby motioned, "W – We need to d – deal with it."

"And how do you supposed we do that?" Jaune asked.

"Um… G – get o – on it w – when it c – comes down again?" She suggested, feeling a little silly now.

"No," Jaune rapidly shook his head, " _Hell_ no."

"Do you have any BETTER ideas?" Nora bounced into their shield as effortlessly as Ruby had, "This is so COOL! Why didn't you use this earlier?" She got uncomfortably close to Ruby, who retreated to Jaune's other side.

"Eh, last minute power-up and all that jazz," He replied.

"I'll stay here and assist Ren," Pyrrha decided, "He's my partner after all."

"What? We're not seriously doing Ruby's plan, are we?" Jaune asked nervously.

"How strong is this bubble?" Nora asked curiously as the Nevermore decided to take that moment to swoop down.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Jaune cried, covering his eyes.

Ruby – hiding behind Jaune away from Nora – felt her stomach lurch as the Nevermore's maw opened up and it tried to eat the three of them, but rather than swallow them whole like it would have, its beak bit into the orb surrounding the three of them and lifted it up. She, Nora, and Jaune all collapsed into a heap as they propelled off of the ground, still protected in the force field that Jaune created, and they fortunately didn't fall out of it, since it seemed to solidify to prevent that. Instead, they slammed to the bottom of the circular forcefield, laying down side by side. The inside of a Nevermore's mouth was pretty unappealing, Ruby decided, as she peered into the dark abyss.

"What the?!" Blake was riding on the neck of the beast, and she just stared down at them in shock, "What in the world is that thing you're in?!"

"Long story!" Nora waved it off, "We're here to help you partner!"

"That's good!" Blake yelled back down to them, the wind causing her hair to flail around like crazy, "Since Weiss bailed the moment it got closer to the ground that time." She gripped the feathers of the beast as it twisted and turned to try and get her off, but it was a fruitless effort, "So how do you guys suppose we take this thing down?!"

"And THAT is an excellent question," Jaune spoke up, "By the way, I don't know how long I can hold this shield up, I'm starting to feel pretty tired."

"Jaune," Ruby was still quiet, "A – Are we still f – friends?"

"What?" He glanced back to her, "Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Y – You're n – not mad at me?" She bit her bottom lip and averted her eyes. "Especially since I – I didn't n – notice that y – you were hurt?"

"While your observational skills leave a lot to be desired, Ruby, I shouldn't have lied to you in the first place about it." He admitted.

"Huh?" Ruby looked up, "Lied?"

"What?" His mouth fell open, "You didn't know?!"

"I – I thought y – you said I unlocked it!" She exclaimed, feeling an odd sense of betrayal. Yang told her friends were never supposed to lie to one another, so did he never really consider her a friend anyway? Why would he lie about something so _important_?! She felt the tears coming again, and if she wasn't stuck in an orb two hundred feet off the ground, she'd have probably ran off. She just rolled over so her back was to Jaune, since she doubted he _ever_ considered her a real friend, and she just started to cry.

"Ruby!" Jaune grabbed her shoulder, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lie… Well, I mean, I did, but you looked so sad…"

"Aw… Ruby, don't cry…" Nora sounded serious for once.

"GUYS!" Blake yelled, "Talk later! A giant Nevermore needs to be dealt with right now!"

The threat of imminent death if they don't do anything did at least spur Ruby to stop crying, though her heart was still broken into a thousand pieces. She wiped her eyes a final time, and tried to focus on their survival. She looked around where they were, and she could see that they were approaching the cliff above the ruins. Pushing her hurt feelings down, she spoke, "Jaune, c – cancel your semblance when I say!"

"Cancel it?!" Jaune cried.

"Blake, c – can you use your weapon to cripple I – its left wing?" She asked, getting fully into her hunter mode now. It was easier to see everyone else as tools, rather than people.

"Yeah!" Blake shouted.

"Nora," Ruby turned to the hyper active girl, "Hit the r – right wing if you can."

"Aye-aye captain!" Nora got to her feet unsteadily, since the orb they were in was rocking pretty violently, and she turned to the wing Ruby wanted her to destroy.

"When you g – guys take o – out the wings, jump onto t – the cliff with us." Ruby told them, "G – get ready…"

"This plan sounds dangerous…" Jaune mumbled.

"Jaune!" Ruby suddenly shouted, "Cancel your semblance!"

He looked at her like she was crazy, but she didn't care. Well, she _did_ care, and it hurt her even more to see him give her that look, since it just reinforced her thought that he never cared for her in the first place. Tears threatened to pop up again, but she had to force them down as Jaune reluctantly ended his semblance, and she was suddenly assaulted by the wind and momentum that Jaune's semblance was protecting them first.

She grabbed Jaune quickly, and she flipped Crescent Rose upside down she was standing just below the blade, and she used a dust cartridge to give them a boost out of the beast's mouth and towards the top of the cliff. Meanwhile, Blake had jumped from her position and her weapon lashed out like a whip to the left wing. She swung several times, cutting into the same spot until she hit bone before she had to jump off, since Nora just did what she did best, and smashed the other wing with her hammer, causing the beast to crash to the ground in front of Ruby and Jaune.

Blake and Nora, got off of the beast, and went to Ruby and Jaune's side. The beast's right wing was broken beyond repair, and it would be unlikely to fly ever again. Its left wing was also badly damage, but it could at least move it slightly. Ruby could practically feel the hate and anger radiating from the Grimm as it looked their way and let out a primal roar.

"We've made it up here," Jaune commented, "Doesn't that mean we pass?"

"I think we probably have to deal with this thing first," Blake replied.

"Jaune," Ruby spoke quietly – remember, she told herself, they were just tools – and he glanced her way. "W – With your semblance, w – we can b – beat it."

"Yeah?" He asked, looking at the beast as it started limping towards them, using its lesser damaged wing to drag itself. She noticed he looked pretty winded, using his semblance for so long probably drained his aura a good bit.

"Turn it o – on now!" Ruby shouted, and though he was surprised by the stern order from the normally quiet girl, he obeyed, and activated his aura, encasing the four of them within its perimeter. Just in time too, since the Nevermore leap towards them and tried to eat them once again, not learning from the first time.

"Perfect," Nora grinned as she realized the mouth was being held open by Jaune's semblance, her weapon switched to its grenade launcher mode, and she fired a few shots into the beast's mouth. The grenades themselves passed through the barrier just fine, and Ruby wondered just exactly how Jaune's semblance worked.

"G – Good job," Ruby complimented the insane girl.

The insides of the beast exploded, and it let out a pitiful wail as it stopped trying to eat them. It stumbled away from them, swaying dangerously from side to side as they heard more explosions within it, sounding almost distant. It then fell back over the cliff, and they could hear it smashing into the ruins down there, wrecking whatever that place used to be. A quick dash to the side of the cliff revealed that the central tower was collapsing due to the unintended weight of the Grimm, and the debris disappeared into the darkness below along with the Nevermore.

"Well," Blake grinned happily, "That went surprisingly well."

"I – I guess so," Jaune sighed, having already turned off his semblance the moment the beast fell. "Now that we have time, we need to settle this…" He turned to Ruby, "Ruby, look… I'm very sorry."

"Sorry?" Ruby's heart jumped at those words.

"Yeah," He nodded, "I was wrong to do what I did. I shouldn't have lied to you about unlocking my aura when you really didn't."

Renewed tears came, and she nodded her agreement, "W – Why did y – you lie? Friends n – never lie to e –each other…"

"I did it because you looked so sad," He replied honestly, "I didn't want you to be sad."

"R – Really?"

"Yes, really." He nodded, "But it seems I messed up even worse by lying to you about it." He got to his knees and bowed to her, "Please forgive me!"

Ruby wasn't sure what the gesture he was doing now was supposed to mean, but she wiped her eyes, and then knelt down next to him, "I – It's ok. W – When a f – friend does s – something b – bad, t – then you m – must be able to forgive t – them."

"Did Yang teach you that?" He asked, lifting his head.

She nodded, "J – Jaune… W – We're friends, right?"

A short laugh, "What do you think this was all about? Of course we are!"

"T – Then I f – forgive you." She smiled, feeling much lighter having said those words. She wanted to hug him, but she was afraid _that_ would be overstepping her boundaries a bit too much, so she just kept her distance.

Well, she _would_ have kept her distance if Nora didn't pick her and Jaune up with her insane strength and hug them both, "You two are so CUTE!" Nora exclaimed, "Group hug time!"

"I'll pass." Blake replied, crossing her arms.

"Aw, you're such a party pooper!" Nora exclaimed.

Though she was being crushed by Nora, Ruby had to admit that despite her fear and uncertainty towards this new school, she was actually looking forward to her future here.

"Should we help the others?" Blake asked uncertainly, looking down the cliff. Glancing back, she eyed the three of them, "Guys?"

XxXxXxX

"Would Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Jaune Arc, and Nora Valkyrie please step up to the stage?" Ozpin called out, watching the four walk out – Ruby was holding Jaune's arm in a death grip, while Nora marched out like she owned the place. Blake in the meantime, walked at Ruby's side, shielding the girl's eyes from the crowd gathered around them. "You have gathered the knight piece," He told the four of them, "From this day forward, you will be known as team Robin."

"Robin?" Jaune muttered, "R…N… how does the J fit in there? Even my last name doesn't fit."

"Shush you," Nora smacked him lightly on the back of the head.

"I – I think it's RBJN," Ruby whispered, feeling only a little confident being hidden between her two friends.

"I mean, it _kinda_ looks like it, I guess." Jaune mumbled, "Not really…" He added quietly to himself.

"They will be led by Ruby Rose," Ozpin continued.

"Huh?" Ruby gasped, her body going as still as a statue, not even breathing. Jaune and Blake gave her a concerned look, while Nora wasn't even aware of Ruby's action, since she lifted the smaller girl up and spun her around, "Ruby's our team leader! Woohoo! Wait until I tell Ren about this!"

"I'm right over here," Ren called from the side, "I can see just fine."

"Nora, you really should put her down," Jaune spoke worriedly, "She doesn't look too good."

"Really?" Nora stopped spinning, and set Ruby down. Within moments Ruby's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fainted on the spot. The three teammates looked at their new team leader, unsure of what exactly to do, before Jaune sighed and picked the girl up.

This was going to be an interesting year.

XxXxXxX

I guess since this is the end of everything I've written, i'll provide a bit more detail about this alternate universe. Essentially, the only thing still similar to the canon material is the characters and the White Fang, everything else, including the maidens, Cinder, and all of that other stuff just wouldn't exist. This story would have continued in a similar way as this chapter, with Ruby making more friends and learning to be more confident in herself. I was planning to have this eventually be a Jaune/Ruby story, because I find that couple to be adorable. Jaune's semblance was going to be expanded a bit more, eventually allowing him to form any shape he wanted it to be, so he could make a giant swordsman out of his force field, and use that to attack while he and his team hide inside of it, for instance.

If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this!


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